Starfall (Starflight #2)(41)
Her lips thinned while color bloomed on her cheeks. Acorn must’ve sensed a storm brewing, because she took a nosedive into Cassia’s pocket. “If I wanted to punish myself, I’d keep looking at your face.”
“Isn’t my face in half the pictures taped to your bunk wall?”
“Maybe I keep them there to scare away the devil.”
“Just show him your feet,” he said, going for her weak spot. She had adorable toes, but she hated that her second one was longer than the first. “He’ll run screaming back to hell with his forked tail between his legs.”
“Keep talking and I’ll send you there to meet him.”
“I’ll say hello to your demon-spawn mother while I’m there.”
“Try not to wet yourself like you did at the palace.”
“Hey!” He drew back an inch. That was hitting below the belt. “I was only four when that happened, and your mom was legitimately scary.”
Doran laughed and pointed his spoon at them. “It’s great to see you two fighting again.” When Arabelle slid him a confused look, he told her, “It’s their love language.”
“Oh.” Arabelle gave them a timid smile. “I speak that language sometimes, too.”
“Enough games,” Cassia snapped, though the tension had visibly unwound from her posture. She didn’t even flinch when Kane sat down beside her. “We have bigger problems than your face,” she told him, and then pointed at Doran. “Especially for you, Daro the Red.”
“Me?” Doran touched his chest. “What’d I do?”
Cassia worked the com-bracelet over her wrist. She picked up her coffee mug and, after a moment’s hesitation, paused to take a sip. “I just finished talking to my general. The pirate lord of sector two was found dead last night from garrote wounds.”
“Garroting?” asked Solara.
“It’s Necktie Fleece.” Doran swore under his breath. “He’s taking out the head of each sector. And he wants everyone to know it’s him.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Cassia said. “My guess is he’s paving the way for the Zhang operation to move into pirate territory. This is war.”
“But that’s not how pirate law works,” Solara argued. “You can’t take a lord’s territory unless you challenge him. The only reason Doran ended up in charge is because Demarkus insisted on a rematch.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Doran said. “This isn’t a lawful takeover. The mafia’s trying to cause chaos by killing the Brethren leadership. And I’m next on the list.”
Kane gave his friend a reassuring nudge across the table. “No one knows who you really are. Lay off the hair dye and the eyeliner, and Necktie won’t recognize you if he passes you on the street.”
“Stay off the streets anyway,” Cassia told Doran. “New Haven is a big planet, but there’s no reason to tempt fate.”
Speaking of big planets, Kane wondered how they were going to find Necktie Fleece and capture him without earning permanent neckties of their own. Any man with the strength and skill to use a piece of wire to strangle a pirate lord was no one to underestimate. “How do we take him?”
“My soldiers are on the way,” Cassia said. “General Jordan is tracking Fleece’s ship. It’s a passenger craft called the Origin. We’ll know exactly when and where he lands, and as soon as his ship touches down, my troops will be there to hobble the landing gear and thrusters. Then we’ll take him someplace secure for questioning and see if our hunch is right. With any luck, I’ll have a cure to take back to Eturia, and the pirate lords can stop sleeping with one eye open.”
“Two birds, one stone,” Doran said. “Nice plan.”
Kane agreed. He would die before saying so, but he had to admit this whole trip would be a bust without Jordan and his technical team.
“Hey, Kane,” Renny called over the intercom. “There’s an incoming transmission for you. Some guy who calls himself a badger.”
“That’s Norton, a friend of mine,” he called back. He stuffed in one more bite of porridge as he stood from the table, then shouted with one cheek full, “Tell him I’m on my way.”
He jogged up the stairs to the bridge, but by the time he reached the com center, the transmission had dropped. He was about to ping Badger back when Renny spoke to him from the pilothouse. “He couldn’t wait. He asked me to deliver a message.”
“What’d he say?”
“Come sit down.”
Kane’s stomach dipped. Everyone knew sit down was code for bad news. His mind raced with possibilities until it landed on the most likely outcome. “It’s my mom, isn’t it? Something happened to her.”
“Come—”
“Don’t make me sit down. Just say it.”
But of course Renny didn’t do that. First he set the autopilot; then he took the time to walk to the com center and settle a hand on Kane’s shoulder. “She took a turn for the worse. She hasn’t held anything down all week. Your friend doesn’t think she’ll last the night.” Renny’s eyes shone with so much sympathy it weakened Kane’s knees. “He wants you to know so you can call home and talk to her before…”